Shares in the Cairo-based group shed 4.66 percent to LE 26.39
($4.77) in early trade. Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes had forecast
net profit at $120 million, while CI Capital had expected $102 million.

"Most of our businesses, with the exception of Pakistan,
continue to perform on target in terms of growth and
profitability," Chairman Naguib Sawiris said in a statement.

"In Pakistan the political, security, financial and economic
conditions have been very difficult."

Average revenue per user for Mobilink, OT's Pakistan
subsidiary, dropped 26 percent, hit by the depreciation of the Pakistan
rupee against the dollar, the company said.

OT did not give a comparative figure but its third-quarter 2007
profit was $125.6 million, according to Reuters data.

"The only reason for the disappointing net profit was the
higher-than-expected FX loss of $69 million, resulting from the
depreciation of the PKR (Pakistani rupee) against the US dollar,"
said Marise Ananian, an analyst at EFG-Hermes.Aa She said excluding the
foreign exchange loss, third-quarter earnings would have been 9 percent
higher than the bank's estimates.

Pakistan is facing inflation of over 25 percent, widening current
and fiscal deficits and foreign reserves just enough to cover nine
weeks' worth of imports.

Orascom Telecom said its revenue for the third quarter was $1.37
billion. It did not give a comparative figure for last year.

Total subscribers reached 79 million by the end of September, up 22
percent from the previous year, OT said.

Aldo Mareuse, the group's chief financial officer, said
Orascom Telecom expected to maintain a "solid liquidity profile for
the coming years," adding that the group does not have significant
debt maturities until 2013. --Reuters

SODIC reports LE 9 mln net loss in Q3

SODIC net loss in the third quarter of 2008 was LE 9.2 million, on
a stand-alone basis, the company disclosed to the stock exchange. This
is in line with the previous quarter's results -- and not
unexpected -- since the company is not currently delivering any units, a
key driver for accounting income for real estate developers, the company
said in a statement.

Banque Misr Liban (BML) reopens Furn El-Chebbak Branch

Banque Misr Liban (BML) reopened its branch in Furn El-Chebback,
under the patronage of Ahmad El Bidewi, Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon,
and was attended by Mohammad Kamal Eldin Barakat, chairman of the board
of directors of BML, the bank said in a statement.

"The opening of this new branch falls within the bank's
strategy to further expand and modernize its operation in Lebanon,"
the statement read.

The branch has been renovated and equipped with enhanced business
process. "Since the new management took over in 2007, Banque Misr
Liban has been actively implementing a comprehensive development program
to regain its former stature in the Lebanese banking sector."

Banque Misr Liban was established in 1929 and is one of
Lebanon's oldest banks, owned 88 percent by the Banque Misr (Egypt)
banking group. Banque Misr Egypt's total asset exceeded $30 billion
in 2007, the bank said.

Eye on the market

The Ministry of Trade and Industry is planning to negotiate
receiving e1/450 million from Spanish funds to qualify local producers
of paints for getting the RICH certificate and hence get access to
European markets.

In an attempt to attract FDI, the Ministry of Finance is currently
studying the reenactment of tax breaks (which had been cancelled in May
2008) for some projects, including energy-intensive ones built in free
zones, and projects built in and/or close to ports such as liquefied
natural gas and petrochemical plants, reported Al-Gomhuria.

Amr Assal, the chairman of the Industrial Development Authority
(IDA), announced that a total area of 123 million square-meters in East
Port Said will be allocated for industrial projects with expected
investments of $180 billion over the coming 20 years, reported Al-Mal.

The IDA also announced that 500 feddans of land in every
governorate would be available over the coming three months at
subsidized prices for the development of industrial zones, reported
Al-Masry Al-Youm. This comes as part of a joint program between the
Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture that aims
at developing specialized industrial-agricultural zones with estimated
investments of LE 66 billion, and a capacity for 474 factories. The
program's details will be announced in January 2009.

AAIB Q3 net profit up 13 pct

Arab African International Bank's (AAIB) net profit in the
third quarter of 2008 rose 13 percent to $37 million, while net profit
for the first nine months of 2008 surged 45 percent year-on-year to $128
million, the bank said in a press statement.

Total banking income grew 52 percent to $205 million, with net
interest income growing by 54 percent and non-interest income by 48
percent to $82 million.